Storage tank and automatic drain valve therefor



April 14, 1931- J. F. PATTERSON 1,801,172

STORAGE TANK AND AUTOMATIC DRAIN VALVE THEREFOR Filed Oct. 21, 1927 Patented Apr. 14, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN F. PATTERSON, OF WARREN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WARREN CITY TANK & BOILER COMPANY, OF WARREN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO STORAGE TANK AND AUTOMATIC DRAIN VALVE THEREFOR Application filed October 21, 1927. Serial No. 227,829.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in storage tanks for oils and other 7 liquids and more particularly to an automatic drain valve for the water that may collect on the floating deck of the tank.

The present application is a companion case to several other cases filed by me on October 21, 1927, hearing respectively Serial Numbers 227,830, 227,881, 227,832 and 227,833.

The present case relates especially to an automatic drain valve that is used with a type of tank known as the floating deck type.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a tank of the floating deck type wherein any rainwater or moisture, or

the water from melting snow or ice, that collects on the floating deck may be properly discharged from the deck and of course not be permitted to mix or come in contact with the oil stored within the tank.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a drain arrangement wherein any water that collects on the deck, will be allowed to pass thru an opening in the deck,

and in turn thru a pipe lying within the tank and from this pipe to a discharge at the lower edge of the tank.

Still another object of the invention is to provide automatic means wherein if the pipe within the tank should become broken or disengaged from its connections certain mechanism will come into operation which in turn will release a valve situated at the end of the discharge pipe for the Water thus automati cally cutting off this discharge and preventing any of the fluid stored in the tank from escaping.

Still another object of theinvention is to provide a floating deck typeof storage tank for oils wherein a flexible hose is properly connected to the automatic drain mechanism beneath the floating deck, so that this flexible hose and automatic drain mechanism may rise and fall with the floating deck as the liquid 5 is pumped into the tank or discharged therefrom. {it the same time the automatic drain mechanism may at all times permit the water that collects on the floating deck to be disprovide an automatic drain valve for the water that will collect on the floating deck, which automatic drain mechanism will be easy to build, cheap to construct, and relatively cheap to manufacture.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts which will be hereinafter more fully explained and pointed out in the claims.

Referring now to the drawings Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a portion of the tank and the automatic drain valve, the flexible hose and pipe being shown in elevation and a portion of the hose being broken away for the sake of clearness.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detailed view partly in section showing the trigger and means for normally supporting the cutoff or discharge drain valve.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more specifically to the several views, there is shown in Fig. 1 a fragmentary portion of a large storage tank 1, which is especially designed for the storage of oils and the more volatile hydro-carbons, such as gasoline, etc.

The tank proper will be made up of course of a large number of sheets of steel or other desired metal, and tightly riveted, but the construction of the sides and the bottom of the tank proper forms no part of the present invention.

Located however within this tank there is shown a floating deck 2 which is a composite metal structure and designed to float on the liquid within the tank, and to rise and fall with the liquid within the tank. The specific construction of this deck forms the subject matter of the companion case filed of even date herewith. and bearing Serial Number 227,832.

It might be generally stated that its upper side consists of a plurality ofsmall telescopic or overlapping plates which are spring pressed outwardly ,so that the peripher of the deck will hug the inner periphery o the tank.

The deck 2 is provided with the bottom 3 while centrally of this bottom, there is shown a small metal open cylinder 4 into which will drain any water that falls or collects on the deck 2.

Before explaining the mechanism and connections to this cylinder it might be mentioned that there 1s a second small cylinder or chamber 5 over near one edge or near the periphery of the deck 2 but in this instance the top 6 of this cylinder extends above the surface of the bottom 3 of the deck to prevent any water on the deck from draining into this cylinder. There is also a small pipe 7 that connects the lower ends of these two cylinders, or chambers.

Referring now again to the first mentioned cylinder 4 there is shown riveted or otherwise secured to its lower end a valve seat 8 so that the float 9 may be placed within the cylinder, and the valve stem 10, connected with the float, may pass thru this valve seat 8, while the valve head 11 is designed to pull up against the seat 8 when the float 9 rises a certain distance, as will be hereinafter explained.

After the float valve is in position a flexible hose 12 is bolted at its one end to the bottom edge of the casing 8 as may be seen at 13.

This flexible hose may be reinforced by flexible metal windings or flexible cables of well-known type so that it will withstand the external pressure.

The lower end of this hose 12 is securely fastened to the discharge pipe 14 which extends to the side of the tank 1 near the lower edge. A T 15 is secured in turn to the tank and to the end of the pipe 14 as may be readily understood. This T is provided with a valve seat 16 while within the T is a valve head 17 adapted to cooperate with the beforementioned seat 16. This valve head 17 is relatively heavy and is secured to the lower end of a steel cable 18 which cable in turn passes thru a pipe 19 that extends the entire height of the tank, and in fact slightly above the tank as at 20, so that a trigger mechanism 21 may be secured thereto and extend over the inner edge of the tank.

It might also be mentioned that a small movement of the valve head 17 is properly limited.

The upper end of the cable 18 is secured to a handle 23 so that the valve head 17 may be raised off the seat 16 as shown in Fig. 1, which of course, will permit any discharge thru the pipe 14 into the T and out the lower arm of the same.

If however the valve head 17 is on the seat 16 it will cut off any discharge from the pipe 14 as is obvious.

Referring now to the trigger mechanism 21 it will be seen that there is a small cap 24 secured to the upper end 20 of the pipe 19 on which cap there is provided a support 24 for a trigger arm 25, which trigger arm is provided with a jaw 26 at its upper end that is adapted to pass under a notch 27 formed in the shank or stem of the handle 23. The shank of the handle passes thru an opening 28 in the cap 23 to which handle (shank) it will be remembered is connected the steel cable 18 that supports the valve head 17.

On the trigger arm 25 there is secured an eyebolt 29 which passes thru an opening 30 in the support 24 while between the support 24' and the nut 31 on the end of the bolt is compressed a spring 32 so that normally the trigger arm 25 is held under the latch in the handle 23.

Of course when the trigger arm 25 is pulled downwardly the jaw will slip from under the latch and the valve 17 will seat and thus cut off any discharge thru the pipe 14.

This trigger arm is to be automatically tripped by pressure on a wire connected to this arm as will now be described.

At the outer end of the trigger arm 25 is shown a wire 33 that extends down thru an opening 34 in the floating deck to the rigid arm 35 secured on the tank near its bottom edge. This wire is normally in a vertical position and stretched just tight enough so that it will not normally overcome the compression of the spring 32.

Now, secured to the floating deck near its upper edge along side of the opening 34 is the support 36 with the two sheaves 37 therein, which sheaves lightly bear against the wire 33 as the floating deck rises and falls within the tank. -Also pivotally mounted adjacent the support 36 and sheaves 37 is the small bell crank 38 which is pivoted in the small stub arm 39. On the one end of the short arm of the bell crank 38 is the small sheave 40 that normally lightly bears against the wire 33 and at a point between the two sheaves 37, so that when the bell crank is forced upwardly, as will shortly be explained, the sheave 4O forces the wire 33 inwardly and of course pulls the same, which action will operate the trigger arm 25 to in turn release the jaw from the notch in the handle and thus permit the discharge valve 17 to close by gravity.

Now to operate the bell crank 38 when it is to be operated, I hang a small metal float 41 to the outer end of the bell crank lever and place this ball within the heretofore mentioned small cylinder or tank 5, so that when the ball 41 is lifted it will operate the bell crank 38, which in turn, by the pressure of the sheave 40 against the wire 33 pulls the same and thus operates the trigger mechanism to close the valve 17 as will be understood.

The operation of the device will now be set out Supposing the tank to be partly full of oil and the deck in the position shown Any rain will of course fall on the deck 2 as there is no dome for this tank, and this water will discharge into the small cylinder 4 and will pass out thru the flexible pipe 12 and thru the pipe 14 out thru the T 15, as the valve 17 will be normally in the raised position shown and the trigger arm 25 normally engaging the latch of the handle.

This is the normal condition of the tank and as the deck rises and falls with the ingress and egress of the liquid the sheaves 37 and 40 will normally just contact with the wire 33 and run up and down the same, there being ordinarily no force exerted on this wire except the tension caused by the spring 32 to hold the wire 33 tight and the trigger within the latch of the handle.

Now supposing however that for some unforeseen reason the flexible pipe 12 should be come disconnected at 13 or should break anywhere within its length Of course the oil or other stored liquid in the tank would flow into the pipe 12 and out of the pipe 14 and unless some automatic means were provided as above described the tank would entirely empty itself. However with the arrangement above described the moment the rupture occurs or the pipe 12 breaks, the liquid in the tank would not only tend to flow out thru the pipe 14 but of course would seek its level, which is the bottom of the floating deck, and would flow upwardly thru the valve seat 8 to partially fill the small cylinder or tank 4. It would then raise the ball 9 but before this valve has reached its full height the liquid will also flow thru the pipe 7 and into the small tank 5. After the ball 9 has raised the length of the valve stem it will close the valve seat 10 but the liquid will have also passed thru the pipe 7 and will have raised the ball 41 in the tank 5.

As I formerly explained the ball 41 being connected to the crank arm 25 will force the sheave 40 against the wire 33 and release the trigger arm which in turn permits the valve 17 to drop into its seat and thus cut off the discharge pipe 14, thus practically immediately preventing any discharge of the stored liquid to escape from the tank.

As will be understood it is desirable to have a valve connected with the ball 9 because otherwise the great weight of the deck might cause the oil on the breakage of the pipe 12 to spurt right out of the small tank 4 on to the deck rather than cause the oil to flow up thru the seat and also thru the pipe 7 to the tank 5 to operate the discharge valve.

It will be understood that I have not shown the inlet for filling the tank nor have I shown the discharge outlet for the liquid within the tank because these inlets and outlets for the oil will be of the ordinary type and form no part of the invention.

In like manner, neither have I shown in this application any supplemental support secured to the bottom of the deck for supporting the deck when the tank is empty, but it will be understood that in the companion cases, means are shown for supporting the floating decks should they come to rest at the bottom of the tank rather than on the liquid. It will be understood however that such a support will extend below the lower level of the bottom edge of the connection 13 on the small cylinder or chamber 4 so that if the deck does come to rest at the bottom of the tank it will not damage the automatic drain mechanism.

It will also be understood that should an accident occur as above described, the pipe 12 or the damaged part may then be repaired and the handle 23 again raised to elevate the valve 17 and the trigger arm again set within the latch.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a mechanism to take care of the ordinary rainfall and the water that will collect in the deck and I have also provided 7 a mechanism wherein should an accident occur to this water drain mechanism imediately the automatic mechanism will operate to close the discharge of the drain mechanism and thereby prevent the tank from being emptied of its stored liquid.

It will also be seen that the mechanism is comparatively simple. The rainwater or melting snow will automatically pass down thru the tank and out of the drain discharge and should any accident occur to this drain mechanism the automatic means above described will immediately release the discharge valve and thus prevent any loss of the oils or other liquids stored in the tank.

This drain valve mechanism might be applied to any other suitable form of tank wherein a floating deck is used.

It will be also understood that many slight changes might be made without in any way departing from the spirit or scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the exactdescriptions.

Having thus described my invention, what 2 I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A storage tank, having a floating deck, means located on the under-surface of the deck for discharging any water falling on the deck, the water being discharged thru the tank but isolated from the contents of the tank, and further means without the confines of the tank connecting with said firstmentioned means for closing said discharge in case said means secured to the under-surface of the deck should become damaged.

2. A storage tank, having a floating deck, means located on the under-surface of the deck and having an inlet opening level with the bottom of the deck for receiving any water on said deck, a discharge pipe connected with said receiving means and valve at the lower end of the discharge pipe, the water normally discharging thru said pipe and valve, and further means located partly without the confines of the tank cooperating with the first-mentioned means for closing the valve at the discharge opening in case said discharge pipe should become accidentally damaged.

3. A storage tank, having a floating deck, means carried by said deck for discharging any water on said deck thru and from said tank but isolated from the contents of said tank, and trigger means located above and without the confines of the tank cooperating with first-mentioned means for closing the discharge to thereby prevent the discharge of any liquid stored in the tank, should said water discharge means become accidentally damaged.

4. A storage tank, having a floating deck, means for discharging any water on said deck and said means connected to said deck for discharging the water thru the tank but isolating the same from the contents of said tank, and further means partly carried by said deck and operable without the confines of the tank and cooperating with the said first-mentioned means for closing the discharge to thereby prevent the discharge of any liquid stored in the tank, should the said water discharge means become accidentally damaged.

5. A storage tank, having a floating deck. a chamber having an open top, carried by said deck, and the top of the chamber level with the bot-tom of the deck, a flexible passageway connected to said chamber. and said. passageway connected with a valve near the lower end of the tank, a second chamber carried by the deck, and a passageway between the said chambers, the first chamber normally receiving any water from the deck. and discharging the same thru said valve and means in the second chamber for closing said valve if said flexible means on the first chamber should become damaged.

6. A storage tank, having a floating deck,

a chamber open at its top secured in the bottom of the deck, means connected with the chamber for draining the water from said chamber, a weight valve at the end of said means and normally open, a second chamber carried by said deck, a passageway connecting said chambers, a valve in said first chamber also being normally open and adapted to close should the means for draining the water connected with said first chamber become damaged, means located in the second chamber for operating said weight valve after the valve in the first chamber has operated.

7. A storage tank, having a floating deck, two chambers carried by said deck, both of said chambers being open at the top and a passageway between said chambers, one of the chambers extending above the bottom of said deck for receiving any water on said deck, a flexible pipe secured to one of the said chambers and rising and falling with the said deck, a drain pipe connected with said flexible pipe and a weight valve at the outer end of said drain pipe normally open, a float valve in said first chamber, adapted to rise and close should the flexible pipe become damaged, a float in said second chamber indirectly connected with said weight valve in said discharge pipe, so that when the float valve in said first chamber has closed the float in said second chamber will release said weight valve to thereby prevent the draining of the stored liquid in said tank.

8. A storage tank, having a floating deck, a water drain pipe at the lower edge of the tank and having a valve therein, means for holding the valve normally open, said floating deck provided with a chamber to receive any water on said deck and normally discharge the same thru said valve, a float valve in said chamber adapted to rise should the water drain mechanism become damaged, a passageway from said chamber, a second chamber, also connected with said passageway, a float in said second chamber, a means operable by the float for releasing the valve in the drain discharge mechanism after the float in the first chamber has operated.

9. A storage tank, having a floating deck, two chambers carried by said deck, a passageway connecting the lower end of said chambers, one of said chambers adapted to receive any water on said deck. a discharge line from said chamber to without the tank, a valve at the outer end of said line, a trigger means for normally holding the valve in an open position to permit the discharge of any water from said first chamber, means in the second chamber for operating said trigger if the discharge line from the first chamber should become damaged.

10. A storage tank, having a floating deck, a water drain pipe within the tank having a valve at its outer end, a flexible pipe connected with said drain pipe, a chamber carried by the floating deck and connected to said flexible pipe, a valve in said chamber, trigger means for holding the valve at the end of the drain pipe normally open whereby any water on said deck may normally drain thru said chamber and out said valve at the end of the drain pipe, a second chamber connected with said first-mentioned chamber, a float in said chamber, a wire extending thru said deck and connected with said trigger means, a trip arm connected with said float and adapted to press against said wire to release said trigger to in turn release the valve without the tank should the drain from the first chamber become dama ed.

11. A storage tank, having a floating deck therein, provided with two interconnecting chambers, one of said chambers adapted to receive any rainwater on the deck, drain means from said chamber extending to the outer side of the tank, a valve in said drain means without the tank, and normally held in open position, a trigger for operating said valve and a Wire extending thru said deck connected with said trigger and held in a taut position, a float in the other of said chambers, an arm bearing against said wire and said arm operating said trigger to release the valve and close said drain when the float in said second chamber rises. 12. A storage tank for oils, having a floating deck therein, two interconnecting chambers carried by said deck, the first of which is adapted to receive any water on said deck, drain means extending from first chamber, a float valve in the first chamber and a float in the other chamber, a valve connected with the drain means, a trigger mechanism for normally holding this valve in an elevated position, a wire extending thru said deck to said trigger means and the wire tightly held at its opposite end, a crank arm bearing against said wire whereby a closing of said float valve and a rising of the float in said second chamber will cause the crank arm to heavily bear against said wire to operate said trigger to close said valve in the drain means.

13. A storage tank for oils, having a floating deck, two chambers depending from said deck and the first said chamber adapted to receive any rainwater on said deck, a drain pipe connected with said first chamber extending without the tank, a valve at the outer end of said drain pipe, a trigger for holding said valve in an open position, means carried by said deck and operated from the second chamber to release said trigger, should the drain pipe become damaged to thereby release the valve at the end of said drain pipe. 14. A storage tank for oils, comprising a floating deck, a chamber centrally of the deck for receiving any rainwater on said deck, a partly flexible drain extending from said chamber to without the tank, a valve at the outer end of said drain and normally held in an open position by a trigger mechanism means carried by said deck for operatin sai trigger mechanism to close said valve s ould said drain pipe become damaged.

15. A storage tank, comprising a floating deck, means for normally permitting the draining of any water on the deck, a valve in said drain means, trigger mechanism for holding said valve and trigger operating means carried by said deck for releasing said valie should said drain means become damage 16. A storage tank, comprising a floating deck, a chamber on said deck, a drain pipe connected with said chamber, a valve at the end of said drain pipe, a trigger mechanism for holding said valve normally open whereby any water may normally drain from the deck, a second chamber connected with said first chamber and trigger operating mechanism carried by said deck to release said valve should the drain pipe of the first chamber become damaged.

17. A storage tank for liquids, comprising a floating deck, means for normally draining any water from said deck to without the tank, a valve connected to the drain means, a trigger mechanism for normally holding sald valve open, means carried by the deck and connected with the drain mechanism whereby should the drain mechanism become damaged the said means will operate said trigger to close the valve in the drain.

18. A storage tank for oils, comprising a floating deck, a passageway leading from said deck to without the tank to normally drain any water on said deck, a valve without the tank and in said passageway and a trigger for normally holding said valve open, a wire connected with said trigger and passing thru said deck securely fastened at its lower end whereby said wire will be held taut, a by-pass line connected with the drain line and having a float therein, an arm to be forced against said wire and operated by said float if said drain passageway becomes damaged, so that the liquid stored in the tank will flow thru said by-pass and operate the float and consequently said arm to operate the trigger mechanism and close the drain.

19. An automatic drain for storage tanks, comprising a floating deck, a chamber beneath the deck for receiving any rainwater, a flexible pipe connected to said chamber, a passageway from said pipe to without the tank, a valve at the outer end of the passageway, a float valve in said chamber normally open, a second chamber connected with the first and a float within said chamber, means cooperating with the float and with the valve in the drain passageway whereby should the drain pipe become damaged the valve in said first chamber and the float in said second chamber will rise to thereby close the valve in the drain passageway.

20.'A slzorage tank for oils, comprising means fornormally draining any Water from said deck, a valve at the lower end of said means, means also partly carried by said floating deck and partly located without the confines of the tank and operable along the side Wall thereof whereby should said drain means become damaged said valve in said drain means will operate.

In testimony. whereof I aflix my signature.

JOHN F. PATTERSON. 

